As some of you may already know by now, I struggle with delusions that tell me that I am God and that people are praying to and worshiping me. These delusions seem to be much more intense while I am in church or in some kind of Bible study/prayer service. Sometimes these delusions become so intense that I need to remove myself from the room or sanctuary just to get my mind to calm down. It is a sad reality for many people with Schizophrenia that we have to struggle with wrestling between staying in reality or believing in a delusion. Unfortunately, for many of us we never truly can distinguish reality from fantasy. It is for this reason that I am writing this blog today. The purpose of this blog is to help people on the Schizophrenia spectrum know how to biblically distinguish what is real from what is a delusion. I will focus on three vitally important points for this blog, but there are far more ways that will help you distinguish between the two. The three things that I will focus on are the following:
1) Renewing Your Mind
2) Trusting His Word Over Your Delusions
3) Taking Every Thought Captive
I understand that each of these points may be unclear but I will elaborate on all of them. However, first I'd like to say that these three tips are not going to be easy. We are all sinners and that means we all desire innately to be our own gods. This means that these tips will not come naturally to any of us. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to be able to do these things. The good news is all we have to do is ask the Lord to help us and He definitely will. He understands that we are weak and because of that we need to rely on His strength. Now, with that said, please allow me to elaborate on my points.
Renewing Your Mind
When we turn to Romans 12:1-2, we read the following from the Apostle Paul,
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect"
As you can clearly see from this text, Paul is telling us that we must not conform to this world, but instead, we are to renew our minds by presenting our bodies to God as living sacrifices. How do we accomplish this task? We do so by reading and meditating daily on His word. We should always be willing to fill our minds with Scripture. As the Psalmist says in chapter 1:2
"...but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night"
As Christians, we should never "empty our minds", as some pagan philosophers tell us, but we should fill our minds with His inerrant, inspired word. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He was tempted by the devil for forty days, said to the enemy when he tempted Him to make bread from stones that,
"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4)
Obviously, Jesus understood the importance of His people depending on His word. His word provides us with the daily sustenance that we absolutely need to survive in this wicked world. As long as we are filling our minds with the word of God, our minds will be renewed and only then will be able to distinguish what is real and what is fantasy.
Trusting His Word Over Your Delusions
For this next point, I'd like to point you in the direction of one of my absolute favorite verses in the Old Testament. When we turn to Proverbs 3:5-6, we read the following,
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths"
I love this verse very much because as someone with Schizoaffective Disorder, I fully realize that I cannot always trust my own reasoning or perceptions. But, I know that I can always trust His word because His word defines what is real. For this reason, whenever I hear a delusion that contradicts His word, I know to immediately reject the delusion. This is only possible to do as long as you are always in His word. If you do not stay in His word, then you will never know how to combat your delusions with His truth. I will now give you an example of how this plays out in my personal life. As I have already said, I experience delusions of grandeur that tell me I am God. Whenever this happens, I repeat a certain verse back to the delusions repeatedly until they go away. What is this verse? It is Deuteronomy 6:4, which says the following,
"Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one"
Whenever I recite this verse back to my delusions, it helps to remind me that there is only one God and I am not Him. This does not mean that the delusions disappear right away. Most of the time I must recite this verse numerous times before they eventually go away and sometimes they do not go away, but I always remember to disbelieve the delusional fantasy because it goes against His word.
Taking Every Thought Captive
This final point will probably prove to be the most difficult task I can give you because it is extremely difficult to attempt. If we turn to 2 Corinthians 10:5, we read the following,
"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ..."
Here the Apostle Paul is telling us that we should monitor our thoughts and literally submit them to Jesus Christ. I do not know about you, but this is one of the most difficult things for me to do because most of the time I cannot even keep up with all of my thoughts. However, here it is in Scripture telling us that we must take every thought captive to make them obey Christ. The only way we will be able to accomplish this task is if we follow the first two tips of renewing our minds with His word and trusting His word more than our own delusions. If we fail at any point in following these tips, then we will not be able to take our thoughts captive to obey Christ. Again, this is not something we can do by our own strength and might, so we need to rely on the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to accomplish this. If we rely on our own strength, we will always fail, but if we rely on His strength, then we will succeed.
I hope that this blog helps you to better understand how to navigate that fine line between reality and delusion. I know that implementing these things will not be easy, but I have every confidence that you will be able to do it by the grace of God. Thank you very much for being willing to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
1) Renewing Your Mind
2) Trusting His Word Over Your Delusions
3) Taking Every Thought Captive
I understand that each of these points may be unclear but I will elaborate on all of them. However, first I'd like to say that these three tips are not going to be easy. We are all sinners and that means we all desire innately to be our own gods. This means that these tips will not come naturally to any of us. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to be able to do these things. The good news is all we have to do is ask the Lord to help us and He definitely will. He understands that we are weak and because of that we need to rely on His strength. Now, with that said, please allow me to elaborate on my points.
Renewing Your Mind
When we turn to Romans 12:1-2, we read the following from the Apostle Paul,
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect"
As you can clearly see from this text, Paul is telling us that we must not conform to this world, but instead, we are to renew our minds by presenting our bodies to God as living sacrifices. How do we accomplish this task? We do so by reading and meditating daily on His word. We should always be willing to fill our minds with Scripture. As the Psalmist says in chapter 1:2
"...but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night"
As Christians, we should never "empty our minds", as some pagan philosophers tell us, but we should fill our minds with His inerrant, inspired word. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He was tempted by the devil for forty days, said to the enemy when he tempted Him to make bread from stones that,
"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4)
Obviously, Jesus understood the importance of His people depending on His word. His word provides us with the daily sustenance that we absolutely need to survive in this wicked world. As long as we are filling our minds with the word of God, our minds will be renewed and only then will be able to distinguish what is real and what is fantasy.
Trusting His Word Over Your Delusions
For this next point, I'd like to point you in the direction of one of my absolute favorite verses in the Old Testament. When we turn to Proverbs 3:5-6, we read the following,
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths"
I love this verse very much because as someone with Schizoaffective Disorder, I fully realize that I cannot always trust my own reasoning or perceptions. But, I know that I can always trust His word because His word defines what is real. For this reason, whenever I hear a delusion that contradicts His word, I know to immediately reject the delusion. This is only possible to do as long as you are always in His word. If you do not stay in His word, then you will never know how to combat your delusions with His truth. I will now give you an example of how this plays out in my personal life. As I have already said, I experience delusions of grandeur that tell me I am God. Whenever this happens, I repeat a certain verse back to the delusions repeatedly until they go away. What is this verse? It is Deuteronomy 6:4, which says the following,
"Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one"
Whenever I recite this verse back to my delusions, it helps to remind me that there is only one God and I am not Him. This does not mean that the delusions disappear right away. Most of the time I must recite this verse numerous times before they eventually go away and sometimes they do not go away, but I always remember to disbelieve the delusional fantasy because it goes against His word.
Taking Every Thought Captive
This final point will probably prove to be the most difficult task I can give you because it is extremely difficult to attempt. If we turn to 2 Corinthians 10:5, we read the following,
"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ..."
Here the Apostle Paul is telling us that we should monitor our thoughts and literally submit them to Jesus Christ. I do not know about you, but this is one of the most difficult things for me to do because most of the time I cannot even keep up with all of my thoughts. However, here it is in Scripture telling us that we must take every thought captive to make them obey Christ. The only way we will be able to accomplish this task is if we follow the first two tips of renewing our minds with His word and trusting His word more than our own delusions. If we fail at any point in following these tips, then we will not be able to take our thoughts captive to obey Christ. Again, this is not something we can do by our own strength and might, so we need to rely on the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to accomplish this. If we rely on our own strength, we will always fail, but if we rely on His strength, then we will succeed.
I hope that this blog helps you to better understand how to navigate that fine line between reality and delusion. I know that implementing these things will not be easy, but I have every confidence that you will be able to do it by the grace of God. Thank you very much for being willing to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
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